The Isles of Scilly Steamship Company has been admitted to the electronic trading platform Asset Match which allows investors to buy and sell shares in the company.

London-based Asset Match provides a market platform for existing Isles of Scilly Steamship Company shareholders to partially or fully realise the value of their share capital, and also facilitates the purchase of the firm’s shares by new investors.

Asset Match is designed to enable companies to provide liquidity for shareholders, evolve their shareholder base and access new investors who can use the platform to acquire shares in profitable and growing private companies.

Shares are traded via the Asset Match website www.assetmatch.com which brings together bids to buy shares and offers to sell in regular auctions where the share price is set.

The people using the platform mainly consist of shareholders of the companies listed along with high net worth individuals and sophisticated investors looking to put their cash into private sector businesses.

Usually companies that list on the platform have more than 50 shareholders, a turnover in excess of £10million and an experienced board of directors. The Asset Match team undertakes a large amount of research and due diligence before allowing companies onto the platform.

Stuart Reid, chief executive of the Isles of Scilly Steamship Company

The first Steamship Company share auction will take place on October 29, 2020, with further auctions on November 26 and December 17, with more dates scheduled for 2021.

The Steamship Company has more than 1.4 million ordinary shares held by about 850 shareholders, with the majority of shareholders located on the islands and in the South West.

Stuart Reid, chief executive of the Isles of Scilly Steamship Company, said: “We are pleased to announce the appointment of Asset Match to provide a market platform for buying or selling Isles of Scilly Steamship Company shares.

“This will allow the company to provide consistent, structured liquidity for our shareholders in a dynamic, transparent and regulated environment.”

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The Steamship Company provides lifeline passenger and freight services between the mainland and the Isles of Scilly by sea and by air, and has about 250 staff.

The company was formed by islanders in 1920 and celebrates its centenary this year. In the year to March 31 2020, the company achieved a pre-tax profit of just over £1million on a turnover of £18.4million.

In September 2020, the company appointed specialist ship designer BMT to advise on new vessel designs as it looks to replace ships providing passenger and freight services to the islands.

The firm wants to replace its marine assets including the purpose-built Scillonian III passenger ferry, which entered service in 1977 and was refitted in 2013, and its freight ship the Gry Maritha, built in 1981.

BMT has pioneered the design and development of purpose-built passenger ferries since the early 1980s and has a growing portfolio of proven vessel designs which include commercial ships, offshore energy support vessels and high performance naval craft. BMT will work closely with the Steamship Group and the islands’ community through public consultation on new custom designs.